Castle Perilous (original 1988; edition 1988)

There is a large amount of books that I've read from this period that seem to be very "we did this, and then did this" in third person form - its a bit annoying because there doesn't seem much in the way of character building - the characters in this book are flat, a bit boring, and too accepting of their fate, for example, Gene just accepting Snowy, a very hairy abominable snowman. Its a great concept, but lacking a bit on execution. ( )

All right - I was expecting more guffaw style humor than what is in this, but there isn't anything wrong with the humor of the thing. If you like Terry Pratchett's style of approaching odd situations as if they were everyday occurances then you'll get the humor here.

Castle Perilous (so named because if you're there, you're in trouble) sits at the center of reality. Not the reality of the universe - no, the universes are actually aspects created by the nature of the castle itself. This includes the universe containing earth. Should the castle disappear, so would all the universes connected and maintained by its existence.

This is exactly what we find here. There are those that would see the castle destroyed and the demon, whose body is the castle, is released. The Lord of the castle, one Incarnadine, is striving (somewhat unsuccessfully) to prevent this. This while trying to make sure that all those within the castle that have traveled to it via various portals remain alive. Well, most of them.

We are introduced to this world by following Gene through a fleetingly lived portal Earth. He is immediately confronted with a rather large, white-haired polar-bear/sasquatch mix with surprisingly good English skills that he should run. Which he does because the walls, and floors, and ceilings are precipitously crashing into each other with his location at the end of the collapse.

There are aspects that are glossed over a tad such as the actual history of the Lord and the castle. However, who ever really wants the full guts story and history when it really isn't important to the story? I'm sure the author knows and that's good enough for me.

It is a fine, good read and one that I would recommend to anyone that like humorous fantasy. ( )

A great humorous fantasy story, full of unexpected twists and turns. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the rest of the series. ( )

Very, very funny! ( )